Thesis Chapter 4: The Vision: Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, Part 2

Intergenerational Religious Education
Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is educational when it involves one or more of three educational functions: nurture, discovery, or training…Nurture is rather intangible…[yet]…essential…It is perhaps our most fundamental work as a Christian fellowship. Intergenerational education, then means, in part, two or more generations engaged in mutual nurture, helping one another to be.[1]

Helping people to “discover the whole Jewish-Christian story, to hear and possess our thousands of years of rich heritage, belief, and tradition—in short, to know God’s good news for planet earth, the Gospel, is the primary aim of this theology of education. Secondly, it is to discover more deeply our own nature…”[2] Training people is the third aspect of Christian education and it is the art of “guiding people in their active discipleship in the church and world, helping them to do.”[3] The intermingling of generations that happens in the doing of intergenerational Christian education passes the skills of the past on into the future, and creates opportunities for innovations, building a foundation for the community’s ministry in the world.

In the melting pot of people that is the Intergenerational Religious Education setting, only facilitators are necessary because everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner. People “share their lives and faith and values with one another.”[4] Thus, the insights and knowledge of each generation provide the catalyst for the Holy Spirit to act in the fellowship of believers. This integration of “knowledge…[the]…holistic growth to maturity of individual believers, and the development of the corporate Christian community”[5] promotes the overarching mission of the local church body because it provides “the foundation of consistency between the theology of the community and its educational strategies…[and encourages]…the corporate edification which enables the community as a united entity to more effectively live out its God-given vocation.”[6]

This coming together of people in Intergenerational Religious Education is
explicitly for faith lifestyle growth…Lifestyle initially refers to physical actions, to behavior, to conduct, to what people do with their bodies; but these bodies are neither decapitated or spiritless. Lifestyle includes…mental and emotional sides of a person and goes on to be quite holistic.[7] Therefore, “the religious instruction act is a pilgrimage.”[8]

The journey toward the heart of God over the course of one’s life is sustained by fellowship, by others helping to bring “the individual into…right relationship with God and his fellows within the perspective of the fundamental truths about life…[because]…theology is a description of relationships. It may be defined as ‘truth-about-God-in-relation-to-man’”[9] and man in relation to others and himself.

Curriculum
Since Intergenerational Religious Education is a unique theology, it requires a considered approach to curriculum. It involves all the generations of the body, and the curriculum needs to facilitate theologically between the educational arm and the large communal arm of the congregation. This facilitation dissolves the typically dichotomous nature of these two foci as it builds ties between the generations.

There are few professionally prepared intergenerational curricula on the market today. One common method currently used to encourage spiritual unity in the church is to utilize the lectionary in educational settings as well as in worship services. This does allow the proclamation and teaching of the Word to be consistent throughout the congregation, but it is applied to homogeneous groups of people, restricting the natural influence of the Holy Spirit to separate age groups. There is no flow of the Spirit between diverse generations, except as happens by chance in the large communal worship setting. Jesus, however, demonstrated both homogeneous and intergenerational ministry. In Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-15, and Luke 18:15-17 we can see the dual nature of his actions. "Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. And he laid his hands on them and went on his way." (Matthew 19:13-15)

James W. White explains this scene:
Jesus does, in fact, teach the children a lesson, though not with words. He invites them to the inner circle of the adult followers and gives them concrete instruction in the Kingdom of God. He does so by letting them experience him as a physically warm and loving person. At the same time, Jesus uses the children as a foil to teach the adults an abstract conceptual lesson about the nature of the Kingdom of God.[10]

We can see from this example that Jesus values all people, no matter what their age or “gut level values.”[11] Here he teaches children in a way they comprehend, and simultaneously teaches the whole assembled group of people who are listening to him and watching his actions. By reaching the children surrounding him he also reaches young people and adults with a profound message about God’s love and his kingdom. Using this technique of teaching “different levels of meaning”[12] to homogeneous groups of people, or distinct generations, and also discipling within intergenerational educational contexts is a fine way to organize the congregation for Intentional Intergenerational Ministry because “intergenerational education settings are not the answer. They have great value. [However]…so does age-level education. Each congregation will want to develop a balanced approach.”[13] Harkness adds, “the preferred strategies will integrate both [intergenerational] and homogeneous-age strategies.”[14]

By using Jesus’ teaching model of demonstrating his nature with children while at the same time teaching adults, intergenerational curriculum is the opposite of the lectionary approach to parish discipleship. The lectionary method uses the scriptures and lessons of the worship center for guidance in teaching children and youth; therefore, the adult understanding of the Word and the Spirit is given to them for their weekly curriculum. The intergenerational approach to curriculum is “to take a unit for younger learners and adapt it upward…it is easier to add information, concepts, and activities for adults than it is to adjust adult-oriented material to children…[because]…adults can learn more from an approach for children than children can learn from an adult-oriented approach.”[15]
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

A curriculum that focuses on the narratives of the Old and New Testaments, the traditions, worship rites, and the liturgical calendar of the church is carrying out Jesus’ command never to forget him and always to remember God. A prominent theme in Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, remembering God and God’s words and works, is primary to discipleship, for “a central concern of Christian education…is to help people to know the Gospel, to know the human situation, and to know the relationship between the two. In this sort of discovery intergenerational education can serve as a most valuable tool.”[16] Joining Intentional Intergenerational Ministry to a curriculum that meets these goals of knowing God, gospel, and the human situation is possible with Godly Play worship education, for it provides sacred story, parable, liturgical action, and religious language, along with existential spiritual play. It enlightens the disciple and stimulates communication, activity and connectivity among both homogeneous groups and different generations. These things are necessary for the support of a seamless process of ongoing fellowship among the traditions and innovations that are characteristic of congregational life.
[1] Koehler, Learning Together, 12.
[2] Ibid., 13.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., 15.
[5] Allan G. Harkness, “Intergenerational and Homogeneous-Age Education: Mutually Exclusive Strategies for Faith Communities?” Religious Education 95 (2000) 53.
[6] Ibid.
[7] James W. White, Intergenerational Religious Education, 23, 184.
[8] Ibid., 26.
[9] Ibid., 134.
[10] Ibid., 73.
[11] Gambone, All Are Welcome, 16.
[12] Koehler, Learning Together, 35.
[13] Ibid., 16.
[14] Harkness, “Intergenerational and Homogeneous-Age Education,” Religious Education, 62.
[15] Koehler, Learning Together, 61. 55.
[16] Ibid., 13.